Berniece Brager
Berniece Brager
Oskaloosa. Berniece M. Brager, 91, of Oskaloosa, died Sunday, February 13, 2011, at her home. She was born April 3, 1919, in Pocahontas County, Iowa, near Palmer, the daughter of Edward and Clara Schon Aden. She graduated from Pomeroy High School in 1936 and attended beauty school in Des Moines where she met her husband, Orval “Joe” Brager of Garner. On May 30, 1937, they were united in marriage in Garner, and lived in Council Bluffs, Van Nuys, Calif., and Des Moines before settling in Oskaloosa in 1948. The couple operated Josef’s House of Beauty in the Downing Hotel for many years. Later, Berniece worked for 21 years as the baker for the school hot lunch program, based at Jefferson Elementary School. She also worked summer camps at Lutheran Church (Io-di-se-ca Camp) and Boy Scouts (Camp Wapello) as a cook. Many women in Oskaloosa knew Berniece as ‘the one to come to with clothing that needed altering’. Berniece used her artistic and creativity abilities throughout her life and was accomplished in needle arts, from embroidery to knitting, crocheting to tatting. She volunteered each fall to demonstrate tatting at the Nelson Pioneer Farm festival. Berniece was a two-time cancer survivor and also lived many fulfilling years with pulmonary disease. Her wit, faith in God, and a commitment to exercise — and plain stubbornness — gave many people inspiration on how people can “beat the odds” of an otherwise debilitating illness. She was a faithful member of St. John Lutheran Church and its Lutheran Women’s Missionary League (LWML), Young at Heart and Bible study groups.
Her family includes two daughters and their husbands: Joan and Bill Denny, Cedar Rapids and Jane and James Reynolds of Clear Lake; a son and his wife: Phyl and Lona Brager of Oskaloosa; a son-in-law, James (Jim) Hernden of Cedar Rapids; eight grandchildren; several great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren; two sisters, Leona Greenley of Independence, and Arlene Brummel of Denison; many nieces, nephews and friends.
She was preceded in death by her daughter Colleen Hernden on March 13, 2010, her mother and father; her stepmother Tena Aden; former husband Joe; two brothers: Glenn Aden and Robert Aden, and a grandson Michael Denny.
Funeral services for Berniece Brager will be held Friday, February 18, 2011, at 11 a.m. in the St. John Lutheran Church in Oskaloosa, with the Reverend Joel Pickard officiating. Burial will be in the Forest Cemetery, Oskaloosa. Visitation will begin at the Bates Funeral Chapel on Thursday after 11 a.m., and the family will be at the funeral chapel Thursday from 5 – 7 p.m. to greet friends and relatives. Memorials may be made to St. John Lutheran Church, the pulmonary rehabilitation department of Mahaska Hospital in Oskaloosa, or to Hospice of Central Iowa.
Source: Bates Funeral Chapel
